Threshing-machine.



No. 688,33l. Patented Dec. l0, l90l. F. W. PICKEBEL & W. W. McGUTCHAN.

THRESHING MACHINE.

(Application filed June 20, 1901.)

(No Model.)

THE yoams versus no. PHOTO-U780. wnsnmomm D: c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRED W. PIOKEREL AND WILLIAM W. MCCUTCHAN, OF GARBER, OKLAHOMATERRITORY.

THRESIHIONG-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 688,331, dated December10, 1901.

' i Application filed June 20, 1901. Serial No. 65,238. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, FRED W. PIOKEREL and WILLIAM W. MCCUTOHAN, citizensof the United States, residing at Garber, in the county of Garfield andTerritory of Oklahoma, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Threshing-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to threshingmachines, which as at presentconstructed thoroughly and efficiently thresh soft wheat, but

are incapable of properly threshing the hard Wheat of Oklahoma, where alarge proportion of the crops do not fully mature, and therefore renderit difficult to thresh the small grain from the boots or husks,'and itis a wellknown fact that a large quantity of this small grain iseventually threshed out by the windstacker and thrown with the strawupon the stack, a total loss.

Our object therefore is to avoid this loss of small grain by subjectingthe straw immediately after it leaves the cylinder to a treatinentanalogous to that which it undergoes by the wind-stacker, said meansconsisting, essentially, of a curved bed interposed between the rate andthe straw-rack, a stopwallextending upward from the rear edge of the bedto the top of the machine, a checkboard to prevent the straw and grainbeing carried around by the cylinder, and therefore insure its depositonthe bed, a pair of casings at opposite sides of said bed and providedwith openings in their inner sides, a rotary beater to thresh and evenlydistribute the strawon the bed and deflect it laterally in bothdirections'into said casings, rotary pad- 'dle-wheels mounted on saidshaft within said casings to throw the straw and grain in acontinuousstream through the spouts of the casings,and a downwardly and rearwardlyextending deflector intercepting these streams of straw and grain andadapted to deflect them down upon the straw-rack and effect their morecomplete separation and uniform distribution.

, The invention further consists in certain novel and peculiar featuresof construction and organization of its parts, as hereinafter describedand claimed, and in order that it may be fully understood reference isto be had to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents acentral longitudinal section of a threshing-machine embodying ourinvention. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken on the line II II ofFig. l.

Referring now to the drawings, where like reference-numerals designatecorresponding parts, 1 designates a threshing-machine of the usual orany preferred type, 2 the concave, and 3 the threshing-cylinder.

4 designates a straw-rack of the usual or any preferred construction,the front end of the same being disposed some distance rearward of thecylinder, so as to provide a space to receive mechanism hereinafterdescribed, and vertically over the front-end of the rack is a downwardlyand rearwardly extending Arranged within and against the sides of themachine and in said space between the threshing-cylinder andstraw-rack-are circular casings 6, having discharge-spouts 7 directedupward and contiguous to the deflector and having large openings 8 intheir inner sides, and arranged within those casings and adapted tooperate in the direction indicated by thedotted arrows, Fig. l, are fansor paddle-wheels9 of the construction shown or of any other suitable orpreferred construction, these wheels being mounted rigidly on thetransverse shaft 10, extending axially of the casing and journaled inthe side walls of the machine, the shaft being provided at one end witha belt-wheel 11, adapted to be driven by a belt (not shown) connectingthe cylinder with the usual separator-fan at the bottom of the machine,or it may be driven in any other suitable manner.

The beater for operating between the casings preferably consists ofcross bars or wings 12, corresponding in number and attached at theiropposite ends to the spokes of the wheels, the outer edges of said barsor wings being approximately V shape, with their apices centrallybetween the casings for a purpose which hereinafter appears. A

13 designates a bed semicylindrical in crosssection of the same diameteras casing-openings 8 and extending marginally of the lower half of saidopenings from one of said casings to the other, so ,as to present itshollow edge of the bed, and the straw an-d grain are prevented frombeing carried over forwardly by the same by the check-wall16, dependingvertically from the top of the machine between the cyliuder and thecasings.

In the practical operation of the machine the cylinderoperates, inconjunction with the concave, to thresh most of the grain from the strawand force it rearwardly and upwardly over the grate 15, through which alarge pro- .portion. of the grain escapes to the graincleaning apparatusbelow in the usual manner, all of the straw and a portion of the grainfollowing the course indicated by the fullline arrows and dropping downupon or into the bed, where it comes in contact with the beater,operating in the direction opposite to that in which the straw ismoving, the peculiar outer or V-shaped configuration of the beater-wingsserving to depress the central portion of the straw, and consequentlycrowd it laterally in both directions along the bed and through theopenings 8 into the casings 6, where it is subjected to the action ofthe wheels, rotating in the same direction as the beater, ashereinbefore explained, and forced under such centrifugal action in thedirection indicated by the dotted arrows,and finally projected withgreat force against the deflector 5, from which it drops down upon thestrawrack in the usual manner for the purpose of efi'ecting the completeseparation of the straw from the grain. Under the action of the beaterit will be obvious that the volume of straw passing onto the bed isdistributed evenly and at a uniform depth to the casings and that thefans or paddle-wheels thereof operating at an extremely high speed willdischarge the straw and grain in streams of uniform thickness againstthe deflector. The forcible abutment against the latter will tend toeffect a still greater spreading out and give an opportunity to thegrain which is heavier to reach the straw-rack freed from the straw,which of course reliably insures its passage therethrough, the strawpassing along the rack in the usual manner and being eventually receivedby the stacker. The severe treatment outlined to which the straw andgrain are subj ected efficientlyseparates the same, the small andimmature as well as the large.

From the above description it will be apparent that we have produced athreshingmachine which embodies the feature of advantage enumerated asdesirable in the statement of invention, audit will also be seen thatour improvement is of simple, strong, durable, cheap, and compactconstruction and can be readily applied as an attachment to machines nowin'service or form a part of new machines. It will also be understoodthat while we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of theinvention we reserve the right to make such changes in its detailconstruction, proportion, form, and arrangement as shall properly fallwithin the spirit and scope of the invention. In this connection itshould be stated that where our improvement is used in conjunction withmachines having the straw rack terminating contiguous to or below thecylinderand concave the mechanism described and shown as between saidrack and cylinder will preferably be located in about the same relationto the concave and cylinder that it now appears, but will of course becompletely above the front end of said rack.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is--- 1. In a threshingrmachine, adeflectorover hanging the straw-rack, a hollow bed interposed between thecylinder andthe strawrack and adapted to receive straw and grain fromthe concave and cylinder, a stop-wall extending upward from the rearmargin of the bed, casings at opposite sides of and adapted to receivestraw and grain from said hollow bed, a rotary beater rotating above thebed.

and adapted to force the straw and grain therefrom in oppositedirections into said casings, and fans or paddle-wheels operating in theeasings for forcing the straw and grain by centrifugal action rearwardlythrough the easings, and against the deflector, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a threshing-machine, the combination of the threshing-cylinder,the concave, the straw-rack, means to deflect straw and grain down uponthe rack, a hollow bed to receive straw and grain from the cylinderandconcave, a stop-wall to prevent it passing over and beyond the bed, apair of casings at opposite ends of the hollow bed and provided withrearwardly-projecting discharge-spouts, means for evenly distributingthe straw onthe bed and forcing it into said casings, and fans orpaddle-wheels operating within the casings to force the straw and graintherein by centrifugal action outward through said discharge-spouts,substantially as described.

3. In a threshing-machine, the combination of the cylinder and concave,the straw-rack, an obliquelyextending deflector over the straw-rack, anupwardly and rearwardly extending grate, a hollow bed having its uppermargin contiguous to the upper end of the grate, a stop-wall extendingupward fromthe upper margin of the bed, a check-wall de- IIO pendingvertically from the top of the n1 t- In testimony whereof we affix oursignachine between the rear side of the cylinder tures in the presenceof two witnesses. and the casings, a rotary beater operating FRED W.PIOKEREL. concentrically of and within the hollow bed, WILLIAM W.MOOUTOHAN.

5 and fans or paddle-wheels operating with the Witnesses: v beaterwithin said casings, substantially as MILTON O. GARBER,

described. T. LESLIE BIOKFORD'.

